Arsenal 2 Fulham 1

Fulham`s failure to win an away game was extend to twenty-six Premier League fixtures when the side went down 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon.

But it should be pointed out that it took two wonder-goals from Sami Nasri to break our resistance on a day when we gave a good account of ourselves.

Mark Hughes sprang a few surprises in his starting eleven when Pantsil was included instead of Baird and Briggs was given a start. Up front there was no place for Andrew Johnson as Hughes stuck with Kamara.

As expected Arsenal enjoyed a lot of possession in the opening stages and matters were not helped by Fulham`s insistence on giving the ball away too easily.

Early on Schwarzer produced a great save from Arshavin before replicating the feat a few moments later when he saved spectacularly from an Arshavin volley.

Arshavin was causing Fulham problems and when another move saw Nasri put his shot wide you sensed that first goal wasn`t far from coming.

It came in the fourteenth minute when Nasri, enjoying acres of space, cut inside to beat both Hughes and Hangeland to fire past Schwarzer. Arsenal`s football was, how you might say, exquisite.

But Fulham didn`t buckle and despite Schwarzer producing fine saves from Arshavin and Nasri, were to equalise with a goal that could best be described as having a bit of good fortune about it.

There looked to be no danger when Squillaci and Koscielny went to deal with an aerial ball but the two clashed heads, the ball fell to Dempsey and his pass put Kamara through for his second goal of the season.

Such was the impact of the clashing heads that Koscielny had to leave the pitch on a stretcher.

Buoyed by the equaliser, Fulham had a great chance to take the lead but Kamara, when through one-on-one with Fabianski saw the keeper thwart him.

All square at half time and Fulham had competed well.

Arsenal continued to dictate the pace of the game at the start of the second half and could have taken the lead when Song found Rosicky buthis volley went wide.

Arshavin then saw the foot of Schwarzer deny him before Fulham had a chance, to edge ahead, unfortunately Etuhu`s header, from close range, went wide.

Gera then saw a spectacular overhead kick go wide before Nasri was to wrap the game up with an outstanding goal. Collecting the ball he skipped past two defenders with some neat footwork before rounding the keeper and scoring from an acute angle.

As the clock ticked down Fulham had two half chances to equalise but Etuhu saw a half chance deflected wide and Gera forced a good save out of Fabianski from twenty yards out.

7 Replies to “Arsenal 2 Fulham 1”

I found myself furious at times over our ineptitude, but also very pleased during other phases of the match. We had more than a few chances. We just couldn’t put them away. All in all, it was a decent performance against a much better side on their home patch. Thought Dempsey, Kamara and Schwarzer played very well, and Davies came on strong in the 2nd half. Sorry that Briggs picked up a knock, but he needed to be replaced anyway. He had nothing for Nasri. Baird gave a good account of himself out of position at leftback. I’ll no longer advocate for Pantsil. I thought he’d solidfy things defensively, but he looked awful today and I won’t blame Hughes for sending him back to the bench. We have a very clear problem at fullback and central midfield. Hope Hughes is given a chance to improve the squad in January. Admirable effort, but nothing to show for it.

I don’t know about confidence, but he’s definitely lost his concentration. If either he or Etuhu had not quit on Nasri, they could’ve kept out the 2nd goal. Davies was the only one who kept playing. Hope Hughes gave Pantsil and Etuhu an earful after the match.

panstil didn’t look too good, but i’d give him another shot as we know what he’s capable of and he looked good against birmingham… dempsey looked good… kamara is kamara… if you gift wrap a goal for him, he’ll score… if it’s slightly more complicated, he’ll put it on his weak foot and hit the keeper… we need better up front… murphy looked bad, and has all season… might be time for a new center mid…